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1260-1268 Payment Processing: Separate Valuation

1260. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Any person, including the seller as well as the purchaser, who has filed for record a duly executed deed, purchase contract, deed of trust, mortgage, or final decree of court, may apply to the tax collector to have his/her interest separately valued on the current roll for the purpose of paying taxes (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821).

Upon authorization by ordinance by the board of supervisors, the county may charge a fee for actual costs incurred for the processing of an application for separate assessment, and for the initial and ongoing costs of separate assessment, billings and mailings. This fee may be billed separately or prior to issuing separate tax bills, or both, or collected on subsequent tax bills, and it shall be deposited in the county's general fund (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821; Gov. Code §§54985 et seq.).

1261. APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
The application may be made at any time during the current fiscal year and before the property becomes tax-defaulted. It must be in the form of either an affidavit or a certification (declaration) under penalty of perjury (Code Civ. Proc. §2015.5). Included must be a statement certifying that the duly recorded document describes the parcel of real property sought to be separately valued (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821). The county may impose the following conditions on applications for separate valuation.

1) A county may, upon approval of the board of supervisors, require that the applicant notify the property owners (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821).

2) A county may, upon approval of the board of supervisors, prohibit such application during the ten working days preceding each tax installment delinquent date and during the ten working days preceding June 30th of each year (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821).

3) If any lien not determined by the application of a tax rate on a valuation of property has been levied or placed on the whole assessment, the application may be accompanied by the certification of the taxing agency or revenue district authorized by law to levy or place a lien, setting forth the specific amount of that portion of the lien levied or placed on the whole assessment that is to continue to be levied or placed on the parcel sought to be separately valued (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821).

4) The board of supervisors may provide that a parcel with a lien against it and other property, pursuant to the Improvement Act of 1911 (Division 7, commencing with Sts. & Hy. Code §5000) or the Improvement Bond Act of 1915 (Division 10, commencing with Sts. & Hy. Code §8500), will not be separately valued unless a request has been made to the agency levying the bond lien for a division of land and bond. A copy of the requested division of land and bond shall accompany the request for separate property tax valuation (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821).

Any separations of property pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code section 2821 are for valuing property for tax purposes only and are not intended to create a legal building site or to supersede requirements pursuant to zoning, building, lot split, or subdivision ordinances.

The application may request that the tax created by the assessment of personal property, leasehold improvements, or possessory interest on the whole assessment be allowed to remain as a lien on the parcel sought to be separately valued, or

1) Be paid in full by the applicant, or

2) Attach to the applicant's parcel, so that these taxes can be paid at the same time as the taxes on the segregated parcel of real property (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821).

The assessor must determine if the value of the applicant's parcel is sufficient to secure a lien for payment of taxes (Rev. & Tax. Code §2823). If he/she determines that the value is insufficient, the value of the personal property, leasehold improvements, or possessory interest is prorated in the ratio that the value of the real property of the applicant's parcel bears to the real property in the original assessment (Rev. & Tax. Code §2826).

Once created, an individual interest parcel may be entered as a separate assessment on subsequent assessment rolls until ownership of the interest is conveyed or until the original applicant or his/her agent requests that the parcel be recombined (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821).

Upon authorization by ordinance by the board of supervisors, the county may charge a fee for actual costs incurred for the processing of an application for separate assessment, and for the initial and ongoing costs of separate assessment, billings and mailings. This fee may be billed separately or prior to issuing separate tax bills, or both, or collected on subsequent tax bills, and it shall be deposited in the county's general fund (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821; Gov. Code §§54985 et seq.).

The application may be accompanied by certification of other taxing agencies or revenue districts, setting forth the amount of their liens or charges to be levied on the applicant's parcel and on the parcel(s) remaining (Rev. & Tax. Code §2821). If the lien continues beyond the current year, the certificate must set forth the amounts for each of the subsequent years.

"A separate valuation shall not be made of any parcel covered by a subdivision map filed for record after the lien date preceding the current fiscal year," nor shall any parcel be segregated or separately valued into more than four parcels, including the parcel remaining (Rev. & Tax. Code §2823). However, this prohibition does not apply in any county in which the board of supervisors so provides in an ordinance adopted by a majority vote of the board.

See sample application, form SCO 1-02.

NOTE: As to the time of acceptance of the application, see NOTE under M-1254.

1262. APPLICATION TO ASSESSOR
The tax collector transmits the application for separate valuation to the assessor, who then places separate valuations on the parcel to be segregated and the remaining parcel. The sum of values must equal the total valuation before segregation (Rev. & Tax. Code §2823).

1263. VALUATIONS TO AUDITOR
When the valuations have been determined, the assessor transmits the application to the auditor, who enters the descriptions on the roll, along with his computation of the taxes due thereon (Rev. & Tax. Code §2824).

1264. COMPUTATION OF TAXES
If the taxes are to be paid on either the segregated portion or the remaining portion of real property only, the ad valorem taxes are computed by multiplying the assessed value of the real property by the tax rate(s) applicable for the current year (Rev. & Tax. Code §2825(a)).

FORMULA: Land Value(s) x Rate = Current Tax

1265. DELINQUENT PENALTIES AND COSTS
Applicable delinquent penalties and costs are computed by first determining the ratio factor in the same manner set forth in the example under Paragraph (4) of M-1261, then multiplying the penalties and costs by that ratio factor (Rev. & Tax. Code §2826).

1266. BALANCE REMAINING
The amount due on the remaining parcel equals the difference between the amount due on the whole assessment and the amount due on the parcel separately assessed (Rev. & Tax. Code §2827).

1267. UNDIVIDED INTERESTS
Applications for separate valuation of undivided interests must be submitted to the assessor for determination of separate value (Rev. & Tax. Code §§2188.11, 2823); (M-1262).

1268. SEGREGATIONS: NONRESIDENTIAL SUBDIVISIONS
The board of supervisors may authorize the county assessor, the auditor, and the tax collector to prorate the amounts of past-due property taxes and assessment liens, plus any interest and penalties that may have accrued, among the various parcels in a nonresidential subdivision covered by special assessment liens, the bonds for which are owned by the county (Rev. & Tax. Code §2823).

The tax collector may then enter into an installment payment agreement with respect to the pending subdivision map. This agreement is deemed the equivalent of a certificate, pursuant to Government Code section 66492, for the purpose of permitting the filing of the final map (Rev. & Tax. Code §2823).

The final map should be recorded only with the provision that the past-due property taxes, assessment liens, and special assessment liens shall not be discharged of record by the agreement but shall be prorated among the parcels created by the final map (Rev. & Tax. Code §2823).